The Fat Man Today

I had a rather odd conversation today with a friend. He was talking about making a Robin Hood – Camelot cross-over, and I couldn’t help but get absorbed into the conversation. Let me explain. Back when I was a kid, I borrowed lots of books from the old school library. Some of the books were hardbound classics, while others were illustrated adaptations made safe for kids. I read every adventure-themed book I could find; my first love was whodunit stories, mystery novels ranging from the light and fanciful to the deep, dark, sombre world of Arthur Conan Doyle (at least for a kid). Then I started running out of those books, and I moved on to reading fantasy novels and novels about the Lone Ranger. I don’t remember most of the books I tore through back in those days, but I know I read a lot. I wasn’t a member of the bookworm club for several years for nothing (it was also an excuse to keep away from sportsfest-related activities; you could hang at the library to hide from the booths ...

One of the biggest problems of writing Pinoy lit in English is the fact that, if you’re trying to paint the actual life of your average Filipino in English, no word in the language can efficiently meet the rough, almost edgy, flow of the Tagalog dialogue. Notice how I didn’t language—proper Tagalog is flowing, lambent, and slow. I was thinking about this the other night, and I couldn’t wrap my thoughts to believe the following lines, had they been written in English: Tumayo ang matanda mula sa palanggana kung saan siya naglalaba, at hinabol ang kanyang anak sa kalye, kung saan ito’y kasalukuyang naglalaro ng piko. “ Hoy putragis na bata ka talaga,” ang kanyang unang isinigaw, kasabay ng batok sa ulo niyong bata, “ang tigas ng ulo mo, lintik ka! Pumasok ka sa loob! Sige na, wag mo na hintaying matuyo pa ang dugo ko sa ‘yo, kundi matatamaan ka na naman sa’kin. Ang tapang tapang mo, pero pag napalo ka naman, iiyak-iyak ka ng parang tanga. Sige! Pumasok ka na sa loob.” I can’t writ...

So I wasn’t able to stick to my end of the bargain. There goes my 100-words-a-day-challenge. But the important thing is that after this past week, I’m slowly getting back into my groove. (a little too late to save the week, but y’know. It ain’t so bad.) Anyway, because I’m at a loss for something constructively complete to say right now, here’s a list of some things I (re?)discovered this week. I’m not going to try and say that these are in any way universally meaningful, but right now, these are the thoughts that coalesce in my mind whenever I’m caught in the bathroom without a book (which is increasingly becoming the case, much to my alarm). 1. Sometimes, there’s a region in a relationship wherein you can’t fill in the spaces with talk, pillow or otherwise. That’s when, just like a good musical sheet, the quarter, half, and whole rests make themselves important. It takes a while to get used to, and if you get too used to them, they’re a curse (just like anything that isn’t take...

The Internet’s abuzz with this study that supposedly sets a baseline (of sorts) for how much you need to earn to really be happy in today’s world. I’m not going to write about that. Lord knows, I’m personally poor enough to be worrying about how to keep happy with what I already have. Instead, I’m going to tell you readers how my day went. Which is unusual, since I never keep a diary, much less try to make a blog post seem like one. And yes, I’m stalling. The idea is that appalling. It’s kinda sad that these days, one of the things that can complete my day is the fact that I was able to inch my way closer to sealing this deal with a potential client. I’m not saying anything concrete, because I might jinx the entire thing, and lord knows that we need as many clients as we can get, but I’ll say this much: I’m rather proud that the details of this possible contract, while not a complete departure from the usual menu served by my firm, is something that we’ve never really tackled ful...

I haven’t been completely honest here lately. Well, I actually haven’t been posting, so that kinda makes the first statement a little bit of a moot point, doesn’t it? But I had a short conversation with a friend the other day, and she mentioned that my recent posts have been more, shall we say, aloof than what I’ve been used to. Which is, I guess, due to a lot of things. But mostly, I think it’s because I’m out of practice. Has life gotten so much of my attention that I’ve forgotten, slowly, how the art of facing a blank canvas? Oddly enough, I do blame writing for my lack of updates. Which is why, from today on, I will try to post at least 100 words every day. Even if all I’m writing about is pretty much nothing.